At PDP’s foundation day celebrations, Mehbooba Mufti terms alliance with BJP ‘like drinking a cup of poison’
Terming PDP's alliance with BJP "like drinking a cup of poison", former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reciprocate positively to the peace overtures of Pakistan's would-be Prime Minister Imran Khan in a bid to take the state out of quagmire of violence and bloodshed.
"Pakistan is getting a new Prime Minister. He (Imran Khan) has made an offer of friendship and dialogue with India. I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji to respond positively to his offer," Mehbooba said while addressing a rally in Srinagar to mark the 19th foundation day of PDP.
Displaying her power-show for the first time since the collapse of her government, an emotionally charged Mehbooba broke down while touching sensitive subjects like 2016 agitation, killings, topsy-turvy alliance with BJP, her two year stint as chief minister and the special status of Jammu and Kashmir apparently to nullify the propaganda against her and gain the lost ground in the state.
Former chief minister noted that Jammu and Kashmir has always proved a challenge for the prime ministers of the nation. "And the prime minister who resolves it within the ambit of humanity, without bloodshed and better ties with Pakistan will have his name written in golden letters in the annals of history," she said.
Recalling her meeting with Modi, she said once PM Modi told her that he went to Lahore uninvited but then Pathankot (attack) happened. "I told the PM that we are suffering as our people are getting killed. If the bloodshed has to stop, we need to talk to Pakistan. I also told PM that even if we make roads of gold, just one killing brings the situation back to square one," she said.
Former chief minister, who is facing a rebellion in her party, said she did not want to become chief minister at the first place when her father Mufti Mohommad Sayeed died in 2016. "It was not easy to join hands with BJP. It was like drinking a cup of poison just for the sake of people of Kashmir," she said.
However, opposition National Conference (NC) was quick to lampoon Mehbooba for her poison remark. "She was a willing participant in their partnership of crime. If it was as poisonous as she now claims why did she not leave the alliance instead of waiting to be sacked? She was quite happy to poison the people of Kashmir with her toxic opportunism," tweeted Omar Abdullah, NC vice-president.
Mehbooba said her late father and PDP patriarch joined hands with BJP just to take the state out of the quagmire of violence. "My father used to say if government has to be formed just for building roads then it can be done by aligning with any party. But if you have take people out of the quagmire of violence, we have make sacrifice and join hands with BJP," she said.
PDP chief also appealed to all political parties to rise above their difference and join hands to defend state subject law under Article 35 A. "I urge all political parties to come together cutting across their ideological lines for defending the Article 35 A like we did it in the last two years," she said.
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